Grouper scores new feature film, casually mentions that you were in her dream last night

I like to imagine Grouper’s music emanating from a burned bungalow on an island in the middle of a river, or perhaps from the site of a spaceship crash in the tundra — sounds that somehow defy music while simultaneously renewing it — so I think it’s rather fitting that she’s scored a film described as “a segmenting journey into the dreams of four neighbors,” a film that will screen in Sundance’s New Frontier category, which highlights experimental films that dissolve conventional artistic divisions.

According to FACT, The Perception of Moving Targets, director Weston Currie’s first feature film, includes material from Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill and A I A (TMT Review) as well as various new recordings. Check out the trailer, and see if you can name the tracks in it.

On January 18, a coordinated 12-hour blackout of websites big (Wikipedia, Reddit) and small (TMT) will be taking place in order to protest and raise awareness about the PROTECT IP and Stop Online Piracy Acts. Head here for more information on the blackout and to see the growing list of participating sites. You can also watch this video for a summary of how both bills threaten the current state of online privacy and freedom of speech.

Our participation in tomorrow’s blackout is not meant as a lecture for our readers, but simply as an act of solidarity with the movement. We encourage you to research the bills during the blackout and do what you can to raise further awareness — Congress votes on PIPA on January 24.

I’ve attended one summer music festival. I drove eight hours to get there and waited another eight hours just to get into the venue. I paid too much money for mediocre iced coffee every morning. I didn’t shower, and I often found myself squashed against strangers who also hadn’t showered as I tried to scout out places with somewhat decent views of the stages. I missed a great late-night act because I was so damn exhausted.

Judging from FACT’s report, the PAN Festival appears to be a rather different sort of event. Supported by The Wire, the festival will take place January 27-28 at London’s Café OTO, a venue that’s hosted the likes of Tim Hecker, Thurston Moore, Grouper, and Mount Eerie. Instead of suffering painfully humid weather and wandering through crowds in a dehydrated daze, you can curl up with some organic fruit juice or a ginger beer and listen to cosmic noises, haunted drone, electro-acoustic distortion, and deconstructed classical — pieces that blur the very boundaries of music. The lineup highlights PAN’s experimental roster and includes R/S (Peter Rehberg/Marcus Schmickler), John Wiese, Eli Keszler, C.C. Hennix, Werner Durand, and Valerio Tricoli — acts that might not appear in a standard summer festival lineup. You can snag tickets for just Friday or Saturday, or you can pick up a two-day pass.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time that one summer, and I like those festivals just as much as the next music nerd. I’m just not always down to abandon hygiene for four straight days, ya know what I’m sayin’?

I’m not going to mention a certain indie-folk artist who’s recently dabbled in electro-orchestral 80s kitsch, because you probably already know that he chilled with Megafaun back in the day (before they were actually Megafaun, but that’s another story). It’s a damn good thing I came across an A.V. Club interview with Phil Cook, because now I can now rattle off a couple of slightly more obscure Megafaun fun facts:

1. Brad Cook sort of digs Top 40 country.
2. Joe Westerlund happens to be a bit of an expert on French minimalism and musique concrète.

I know that’s not much, so I’ll hazard a guess and say they all like mint chocolate chip ice cream and sometimes spend Saturday afternoons playing The Sims. However, I do know for sure that Megafaun has just announced a tour in support of their self-titled LP, which they released back in September on Hometapes. Don’t fret if they’re not playing anywhere close to you, because they’ll be announcing more dates soon. If you get a chance, ask them about their favorite colors and whether or not they like cats.

Here’s a classic joke. A blown-out noise-pop duo, a Brooklyn black metal outfit, and a hedonistic globe-trotting DJ walk into a bar… in Florida. There are only dumb things that can end that joke. In real life, it’s less a joke involving a bar and more a tour that is actually happening involving a bit more than a handful of venues… in Florida. Before the release of their sophomore effort Reign of Terror, Sleigh Bells (you know, the blown-out noise-pop duo!) are going on a short tour with Liturgy (you know, the Brooklyn black metal outfit!) and Diplo (you know, the hedonistic globe-trotting DJ!).

All that noise making and carrying on is going to get annoying eventually. That’s why Sleigh Bells are dropping off that dead weight in Diplo and Liturgy after those few dates. Those guys are such dead weight ugggggggggghhhhhhh. Sleigh Bells will play roughly another handful of dates unencumbered, apparently targeting only major cities. You know, like New York! And L.A.! And Toronto! The majorest!

By the way, Sleigh Bells’s Treats (TMT Review) follow-up, Reign of Terror, is still coming out on February 21 through Mom + Pop Music. It still has a title that sure sounds like a Sleigh Bells title. Hear the first single, “Comeback Kid,” below.

Before we start, let’s recap Grooveshark’s recent stories of note. First, Apple deleted Grooveshark’s app from the iTunes store, then Google followed suit in the Android Marketplace. Next, Grooveshark was sued by all of the major labels except for EMI, the only group that it had an actual licensing agreement with. Finally, EMI decided to sue as well, claiming Grooveshark owed them $150,000 in royalties. Grooveshark chalked the complaint up as a minor contract dispute, downplaying the ordeal, as it has done with with all of its current setbacks.

With all of that on its plate, what does Grooveshark do? They serve up a big FUCK YOU sandwich to all of the above by releasing what essentially boils down to a mobile app that will work across all phone platforms that include a web browser, but circumvents the need to house the app in an App Store. Previously, you could navigate to grooveshark.com using your phone’s browser and see the HTML-built site, but because the actual streaming service used Flash, you couldn’t access and listen to content. The new mobile site, html5.grooveshark.com, is built completely using HTML5, meaning that it will work on the iPhone’s native browser, Safari, as well as in Google’s Chrome.

Who knew sharks had balls? The site should have been long gone by now, but they keep on plowing ahead with nary a care as to what some of the largest players in the music biz throw at them. Their ultimate extinction is still most likely on the horizon, but good for Grooveshark for not giving a shit. Enjoy free streaming on your phone while it lasts!